Chris and Rowan discuss the topic of Flow, drawing from the work of renowned psychologist Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi. The concept of flow can help us to optimise our well-being by identifying the activities that most engage us.

In preparation for talking about flow in the next podcast, Chris and Rowan discuss the benefits of completing the character strengths exercise. An awareness of your character strengths can significantly improve your well-being and enhance your problem-solving capabilities.We discuss the character strengths, particularly in the context of revisiting them, as we spoke about them right at the beginning of the pandemic.

In the first podcast for the new year, Chris and Rowan discuss some ways that we can best preserve our mental health as covid becomes more prevalent in the community. We talk about some ways of minimising and dealing with the uncertainty that we're all facing in the year ahead.

In our final podcast for the year, Chris and Rowan discuss Polyvagal Theory, which relates to the way we respond to threatening situations.
We discuss the impacts of the freeze-submit, the fight-flight and the social engagement systems and how they are each called upon to address threat in different ways. We also talk about how things like trauma can disrupt our ability to balance these responses, as well as some things we can do to help restore that balance.

Chris and Rowan discuss the work of Albert Ellis, one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century. Ellis, along with Aaron (Tim) Beck, who we spoke about in a previous episode, created Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
In this episode, we discuss Ellis's Rational Emotive Therapy (RET), particularly around the core fears and irrational beliefs that Ellis identified. We discuss the 10 primary irrational beliefs that Ellis identified and how recognising their impact can benefit our mental health.

Mark Grant is a clinical psychologist with over 30 years of experience in the treatment of stress, trauma, and pain. Mark’s main interest and experience is in the role of negative emotion (resulting from stress) as a cause and an effect of health problems.
In addition to his clinical work, Mark has studied and written about the problem of stress and pain, and his ideas have also been cited in the New York Times. Mark is the author of the book “Change Your Brain Change Your Pain” and has published several articles on the subject, including in the Journal of Clinical and Consulting Psychology.
We are incredibly lucky to have Mark share his expertise on the podcast to discuss how to manage and overcome pain, the relationship between pain to trauma, the role of medication in pain relief and much more.

After the passing of Aaron (Tim) Beck, pioneer in the field of psychology, we decided to examine his legacy and explore some of the mechanics of cognitive behavioural therapy.
We discuss what CBT is, the story behind its development and how we can all benefit from recognising Beck's work and influence.

Chris and Rowan discuss the importance of our social connections for our physical and mental health. We talk about some of the benefits that can come from social support and also some of the problems that can arise from loneliness and social isolation.

In celebration of 50 episodes of the podcast, Chris and Rowan look back at some of their favourite themes and topics that have come up on the podcast so far. Plus, we speak a bit about how we've best utilised the podcast material and how it's come up after we've recorded the episodes.

Chris and Rowan discuss a number of concepts from quantum physics and how they relate to psychology and our mental health.
What quantum physics teaches us is that the world is not black and white and there are some spooky notions that present themselves in the quantum world. We discuss what this means for our ability to choose our own circumstances, even if we seem stuck in a situation.